Dennis Matanda
Senior Program Officer, Population Council
Dr. Dennis Matanda is a Senior Program Officer at Population Council, Nairobi. He hold a PhD in International Health Promotion and Development from the University of Bergen, Norway. His area of research covers maternal, child and adolescent health with extensive experience in the use of survey data such as Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). As a co-investigator, he participated in the evaluation of the use of Chlorhexidine for cord care in neonates under a managed access programme in Bungoma County; Impact evaluation of the contribution of the removal of user fees for maternal health services on universal health coverage in Kenya; and provided technical support for the design and implementation of research projects under the County Innovation Challenge Fund (CICF)—a DFID funded programme on scaling down maternal and neonatal mortality in six counties in Kenya. Together with other consortium members under a research program Evidence to End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), he used DHS and MICS data to map-out FGM prevalence and study possible correlates of FGM including child marriage, HIV/AIDS, and Fistula in Africa. He is equally involved in implementation science and operation research where he has provided leadership as a principal investigator on a number of studies. Currently, he is the deputy team leader, FGM Data Hub project that provides data and measurement support to the African Led Movement to end FGM; Principal Investigator – Systematic review of effectiveness of interventions designed to prevent or respond to FGM/Global research agenda to accelerate FGM abandonment; and Principal Investigator – Community directed approaches to promote intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Kenya: a quasi-experimental study.